Mass Effect: Animus
by Sutori-Artifex
Summary: Alexander Clarke has proven his value to the Normandy Crew, but once the ever so cunning Illusive Man discovers that the Brotherhood has been following his movements, he decides to allow History to repeat itself, setting in motion an elaborate plan... let's just say, Alexander now knows exactly how Desmond felt all those many decades ago...
1. Origins: Eldar Koslov

**Mass Effect: Animus **

**Origins: Eldar Koslov**

**Normandy SR2, 2185**

"Alexander Clarke, please report to Miss Lawson's Office," called a voice on the Intercom.

Alexander had been in Starboard Observation, reading some Datapads when the order was given. With a sigh, he got up and proceeded to walk to Miranda's office, to the left of the hall leading to the Main Battery. Upon entering, he noticed that Miranda was standing at the foot of her bed, gesturing to her left. The drawers that should have been there were not. They had receded into the walls, revealing a short flight of stairs. Alexander walked closer and discovered that they led underneath the hallway above. A decently sized, circular room awaited him. He'd been here before but had never really used it until now.

In the center of the room was the Animus 5.7. Mordin Solus was overlooking the various instruments and monitors. "Ah, you've made it!" he said, glancing up from his work for a moment. Miranda directed Alexander into the Animus: a rather comfortable chair with gadgets hooked up to a bracer on the armrests. As Alexander took his seat, Mordin and Miranda began setting up the wires on his forehead and wrists, pulling back his sleeves.

"Alright, that should do it… is there anything you need before we begin our first session?" Miranda inquired, patting his shoulder.

Alexander shrugged lightly. "If you could answer some questions that would be lovely," he replied. "For example: Which ancestor's privacy am I invading?" he quipped, and Miranda rolled her eyes.

"Again, invasion of privacy is impossible if person in question is long dead; Mordin already told you that,"

"You haven't answered my question," Alexander said with a smile.

"Fine, I'll tell you. We traced your DNA back to a Master Assassin from the Renaissance Period. His name is Eldar Koslov," the Cerberus Operative clarified in response to Alexander's obvious trolling attempt.

"Eldar Koslov? Sounds Russian," the Assassin replied, and Miranda simply nodded.

"You may feel slight discomfort the first time around… or Trauma, depending on which Memory we load up."

"Let's do it!"

Alexander quickly lapsed into "unconsciousness" as the Animus began functioning. Miranda bit her lip and signaled to Mordin. "Bring Kairee in here. We need a stabilizing element in here while working with the Animus…"

**[LOCATION REDACTED], Russia, 1510**

"Ah, Miranda?" came a disembodied voice as Alexander's awareness came to a vast, unending plane. Everything was… white, shining bright like a star. Alexander looked down at his hands, which were as he remembered them to be.

Eventually, his entire body was enveloped in bits of data fragments and the white light. His silhouette began to change shape. His Levantines exploded into bits of data, as different codes formed around him. When the light faded, Alexander looked at himself curiously. He was shorter, younger, covered in filthy rags, with a makeshift hood and cloak around his head and back. He had black cloth tied around his bracers, and his was covered in dirt. Instead of his M11 Suppressor on his belt, thin scraps of cloth secured a dagger to his side. A single sniff and the rest of his senses were enabled. He smelled HORRID. He deduced that, at the time, his ancestor was a peasant.

"Engage the Tutorial Program!" Mordin's voice called aloud.

As soon as this was said, a VI personality of Miranda formed from data fragments and light. Her voice possessed a certain kind of subharmonics, like a Turian's, but not like a Turian's in the same way.

"Welcome, Subject Nuovo, to the Animus 5.7 Introductory Briefing and Tutorial Program. My name is Oriana, feel free to ask me any question you desire about today's session," the VI said. Figures, Miranda WOULD name the VI "Oriana" after her genetic "twin" sister.

"Alright, when do we begin the memory, and what will it be like?" Alexander asked.

"Right now, the Animus has loaded up the aesthetic model for Eldar Koslov in his early years, shortly before escaping Russia," Oriana responded. "Due to Software Updates installed in the Animus 4.5 system, there have been several improvements to lower the rate of Desynchronization."

"Desynchronization?" he asked.

"As you are aware, the Animus is a Genetic Memory 'Viewer' of sorts. To explain Desynchronization, I must explain what you actually DO in the Animus," Oriana explains. "In the Animus, an Aesthetic Model is loaded and applied to the Subject as an environment is constructed, and a Scenario takes place according to Data extracted from pure Genetic Memory. Your Ancestors pass down DNA from descendant to descendant, this you are aware of. Would you like an explanation as to how DNA and Genetic Memory are related?" Oriana explains, ending in that question, which, honestly Alexander didn't want to answer affirmatively.

"No thanks, continue?" Alexander responded.

Oriana "smiled" and continued, "To 'Synchronize' a memory is to direct the Generated Model through the Memory Sequence in the closest way possible to what actually occurred. Hypothetical Example: Ancestor John Doe gets into a fist fight with a thug in the city of San Francisco on Earth in the United North American States. He wins with an uppercut to the jaw. To synchronize this memory, Subject has to get into a fight with a Thug in San Francisco at the exact time and date, and has to win the fight. Full Synchronization is rewarded for winning with an uppercut to the jaw."

Alexander sits down and listens to Oriana, trying to keep his mind off his Ancestor's natural Peasant Odor.

"Desynchronization occurs when the Generated Memory is directed in a completely incorrect manner. Example: 'John Doe', really the Subject reliving the memory, is killed by the Thug he was supposed to defeat, or runs away from the fight and strays too far from the target. There are three different main methods of Desynchronization. The Most Common is failure to align emotions and thoughts with that of the Ancestor. Assassin Legend, Desmond Miles desynchronized within mere seconds of reliving his first Ancestor Memory, as the Ancestor's emotions were starkly contrasted from Desmond's own. The Second Most Common is Ancestral Demise, in which Subject guides the generated Ancestor-Model into a fight and loses… badly. The Third Most Common is failure to remain on-task, whether it is by losing sight of a target, allies dying at the wrong time, or destruction of essential objects."

"You are about to be loaded into the Animus 'Sandbox'," Oriana finished, and Alexander stood up.

"What is the Animus Sandbox?" he inquired, stepping closer to Oriana.

"The Sandbox is when the Memory Corridor, which we are in now, generates an area based on data extracted from Genetic Memory (GM). You will be able to explore this area freely, do as you please, talk to whom you please, "purchase" items to add to the Aesthetic Model database, replenish limited-weapon-count (Throwing Knives, Bombs/Grenades, Crossbow/Pistol/Assault Weapon Ammo), or purchase 'medication' to regenerate Synchronization. Know that all damage you take in a Memory runs the risk of Desynchronization: It never happened in history."

Alexander nodded as he felt a great force throw him backwards onto his back. His eyes slammed shut, as he expected to fall perpetually. He opened his eyes to see snowing skies. He looked around at the town he was now sitting in. Peasants wandered the streets, shouting in a language he did not understand, but knew to be Russian.

"Initializing… enabling language translation: Russian-English," Oriana's Voice rang.

Alexander stood up and searched about, noticing Guards stationed at posts and in corners around the town.

"LOCATION REDACTED: Russia, Year: 1510. Current Age: 20" Oriana said as a flash of light soaked Alexander's Vision.

Suddenly, all that Russian made perfect sense… Alexander was overcome with emotions that were not his: Anger, Misery…

"Processing… Initializing Memory 1: 'Russian Robin Hood'..."

"Eldar, Eldar!" cried a feminine voice from behind Alexander.

"Who's Eldar?" Alexander asked himself in his mind before instantly remembering everything about the life that was not his. He turned to see an older woman of about 42 running up to him.

Before Alexander could think, Eldar began to speak.

"Lady Asya!" he cried, walking up to this "Asya". He recognized her as a friend of the family. Wife of a wealthy Blacksmith, she was able to live comfortably in the otherwise impoverished town they occupied. Eldar Koslov would take to calling Asya "Lady Asya" as sort of a joke, knowing that Asya was wealthy, and well respected.

Today was not the case for that latter trait, however.

"Eldar, please, you have to help me!" Asya panicked, looking around frantically to see if she had attracted any attention from the Guard.

"Lady Asya, what is it you need?" Eldar replied politely.

"It's the Captain of the Guard. My Husband and I were in the Market when he came by with his men and began pressing him to pay his taxes. He said he already paid them, but the Captain told him that the price went up. Come quickly, they may draw their weapons… I just barely managed to escape, they didn't chase because I told them I was going home to bring back the necessary rubles*."

((*Rubles are Russian Currency that have been used for about 500 years, and in 1710, divided into 100 kopeks))

"Did you actually do so? What do you want me to do?" Eldar inquired, gesturing behind Asya.

"I did, I did. Please, I know you could protect us if anything happened!" Asya responded, nodding and leading Eldar to the Marketplace. Sure enough, Asya's husband was being held at sword-point.

"Hey!" Eldar shouted to the Captain, causing him to turn his head irritably. "Your Money's right here: Go Threaten somebody else, arrogant upstart you are!"

Eldar threw the coin purse to the Captain, who caught it in his free hand eagerly, stuffing it into his pocket. He released Asya's husband, but not before slashing him across the cheek with a laugh. Eldar reached under his makeshift cloak for his dagger, which he had stolen from a robber.

"Asya, I'm about to do something, really, really stupid."

Asya and her husband retreated as Eldar approached the Captain, tapping his shoulder. The Captain turned around to see Eldar with his hood over his eyes. With a growl, Eldar threw the dagger into the Captain's foot, pinning him to the ground as he roared in pain. The other guards drew their weapons, but Eldar had whirled around the Captain, pushing him forwards and shattering the joints in his knee and foot as they bent the opposite direction they were supposed to. He swiped the coin purses out of the Captains pocket and retrieved his dagger all in the span of five seconds, and he had already ran off, scaling up a building. Eldar raised his arms insolently and yelled aloud for the town to hear his message.

"What a world, what a world, in which we the people bow and submit to the will of the greedy, and the greed of the weak-willed? They tell me, 'That's the way Life is', but I tell them, 'Nay, change comes to those who seek it!' Lift your voices in protest, and together we can overcome the corrupt men, like our beloved Captain of the Guard here!" Eldar bellowed. The people on the streets below stared up at him, and reactions varied. Some were opposed to his behavior and idealistic beliefs, and some were rallied by another one of his speeches.

In a sort of mental 'haven' in the 'hyperconscious' of Eldar's "mind", Alexander was absolutely appalled by what Eldar just pulled off. He remained focused as he witnessed what Eldar did next. He ran across the rooftops, trying to locate Asya and her husband.

Suddenly, everything went black… almost. The people below had a sliver of gray surrounding them, and so did the buildings. Every Guard in the vicinity was colored bright red for some odd reason. Two people in the crowd were bright gold, and a trail of golden mist flowed from them, to Eldar's position, like a tether of sorts.

Eldar broke out into a run, watching his step; however, he was not as expert at free-running, like Alexander was. This sudden lack of ability slightly shocked him.

"Synchronization at 89%" Oriana announced. That was good.

Eldar tumbled down into a pile of hay conveniently located below him, in front of the Stable he was running on. He burst out of the hay, covered in bits of straw as he tracked down his targets.

"Asya!" he shouted, and the woman turned to see him running up with the coin purses in his hand.

"Eldar?" she replied, wide-eyed to see Eldar's dagger bloodied, with the coin purses in his hand.

"I took back your money for you," Eldar said, breathing heavily, setting a bag in Asya's hands.

"Eldar, you didn't kill the man, did you?" Asya's husband asked warily.

"Of course not, but let's just say his leg… not in the best 'shape' right now."

Asya took the coin purse and peered inside. The extra payment that the Captain demanded was inside! The rest of the bags were for the people and Eldar's family, and he fulfilled this promise, giving most of the money to the poor families around the town, eventually coming to his own home. His mother was sick and his father had effectively "quit" his job to tend to her. His brother was actually in the Guard, so he wouldn't really bother to help. Eldar had taken it upon himself to help support the family. He dropped the coin purse on the ground in front of his father and nodded.

Nobody questioned the source of Eldar's income, but everyone had a pretty good idea about where it came from.

Eldar sat on his bedroll and sighed heavily, contemplating the day's events as the house around him caved in, in a flash of white light, as everything fell apart, leading back to the Memory Corridor.

"Full Synchronization Achieved. Logging Subject Nuovo Out," Oriana's voice called out as Eldar, still sitting in the same position, obviously oblivious to everything around him, was engulfed in white light as the Aesthetic Model was removed, leaving Alexander Clarke.

**Normandy SR2, 2185**

"Alexander? Alexander, can you hear me?"

Alexander Clarke's eyes fluttered open, the world was currently a blur. Somebody's face was obviously close to his own, however, he knew that much.

His vision cleared to reveal Kairee Antar leaning over him, her hand on his chest. She was visibly worried for some reason. Alexander murmured something about a 'Lady Asya' before returning to full consciousness.

"WHO IS ASYA?!" Kairee barked, pushing herself away from Alexander as Miranda chuckled.

"A friend of his Ancestor's family, Kairee…" she explained, "Asya 'Lady Asya' Petrovski was 20 years older than Eldar, who was 20 years of age in the memory he just experienced, don't worry."

Kairee calmed down and looked down at Alexander, whose eyes were bulging at Kairee's reaction.

"Okay, so tell me: why did you pull me out?" he asked curiously.

"We detected some kind of anomaly while you were in the Animus… you were synchronizing far too quickly, and far too accurately, plus you murmured Petrovski's name when you were waking up. We feared you were about to fuse with Eldar and become locked in the Animus… irrational fear, of course, but I think we may need to take this whole thing a bit slower. In one memory, you underwent a SEVERE decrease in ability, you endured that, you impaled an officer's foot into the ground with a cheap dagger that wasn't even monomolecular, and you had your first experience with the 'Eagle Sense' that the Legends possessed," Miranda rambled.

"Was not my decision," Mordin added, "She's right: fear was irrational, however, I agree: taking this project slowly, best course of action!"

Alexander only blinked at Miranda before proceeding to get up out of the Animus. "It was fun. Quite Interesting for a first time, but I think I'm going to take a break, if that's alright," he stated. "May I ask what you are doing here, Kairee?"

Kairee shuffled uncomfortably in place for a second before replying. "Mordin had asked that I came here to see you. They wanted me to be a 'stabilizing element'…"

"Well, whatever the motive, I'm glad you came."

Alexander pulled his sleeves back down over his wrists and walked out of the room with Kairee.

"Well, that went well for a first try…" Miranda muttered, heading out and up to her room. She sat on her bed and reviewed data compiled during the session, smiling at the results. The Data confirmed Cerberus' suspicious about Alexander.

This was going to be a lot of fun…


	2. Eldar: The Betrayal

**A/N: Hey! Sutori-Artifex here! Sorry I haven't been posting lately. Just haven't had any motivation! .**

**So have summoar ME: Animus!**

* * *

**Mass Effect: Animus**

**Eldar: "The Betrayal"**

**[LOCATION REDACTED], Russia, 1510**

Alexander Clarke stood in the Memory Corridor, awaiting the transformation to Eldar. He had experienced several memories in which Eldar would do the normal bandit thing: Rob carriages, pickpocket guards, attack Tax Collectors… he would then distribute the money to poor families much like his own. Soon enough he was revered as a hero to the impoverished.

Alexander began morphing into the shorter, slimmer, and filthier Eldar Koslov. This time, he was armed with an ornate dagger he looted from a corrupt Noble and decided to keep.

The Memory Corridor (MemCorr as Miranda called it) flashed with a bright light, and once again, Alexander/Eldar found himself in "Renaissance" Russia.

"Mr. Clarke, we have looked through Eldar's memories from this period of his life and found nothing useful. We have moved you forward several months. Don't have a heart attack when the following happens," Miranda's disembodied voice cautioned.

Eldar was sitting on his cot in the middle of his home, unarmed and out of "uniform". His mother was slowly improving, beating the sickness, thank the Powers-That-Be.

"Father, I have neglected to ask: how is Mother doing?" Eldar said, nodding his head at his father.

"She's recovering. I wouldn't get my hopes up though," he replied with a hint of melancholy.

As they spoke, a commotion was building up outside. Out of curiosity, Eldar stood up and looked outside, using a crack in the battered, rotten door. A Town-Crier wearing the uniform of House Vakhrushev stood on a crate, holding a poster with ELDAR'S face on it.

"Attention, men and women of our glorious town! You are all aware that we have recently lost our beloved Lord Vsevolod Akulov, friend of the people, saint-like for the poor and weak," the Crier shouted, "It is a sad time for us all, but make merry! For his greatness, Nazar Vakhrushev has _found_ the killer! His name is Eldar Koslov, and he **walks among us! In OUR streets! He eats OUR food and breathes OUR air!** He has killed many guards and officials in **OUR** town! It is time that we exterminated this pest! Purge him from our land! If anyone has any information regarding his whereabouts, do **NOT** hesitate to report him immediately! He is armed and considered **extremely** violent and dangerous! Do not attempt to defeat him yourself!"

Eldar's jaw dropped in shock and fear when he heard this bounty being placed. His father stood behind him, a grim look in his eyes. "I know you didn't kill Akulov, my son…" he murmured.

Eldar nodded his head. "I wouldn't dare. I never even robbed Akulov once. In fact, he once even _gave_ me money to give to the town… I wouldn't ever hurt him, honest!" he replied, heart aching. "This was the final straw for them, I think…"

Eldar heard a voice from behind him. It was weak, but gentle at the same time. He turned to find that his mother was speaking to him. "Eldar… they will look for you… they will want to kill you for 'killing' Akulov… You have to leave. Do not… do not worry about us… please, for your own good… leave the land," she whispers, audibly enough for Eldar to hear.

"Why!? Can I not just clear my name?" Eldar responded, almost at a yell.

"Because, my son… they know you didn't… do it. You are quite the speechmaker… must have disturbed Vakhrushev… he feels threatened. He is… weak. He wants to eliminate all dissent… and now, you are the people's voice, and you cry for freedom. He only wants to silence that voice. Do not allow him the pleasure of ending your life. Run, Eldar. We'll be… fine…"

Eldar swallowed nervously and peered out the door again. The Crier was drawing a crowd. Looks like they were about to light the torches and sharpen the pitchforks. His mother was right. He needed to leave, now. Without another word, Eldar sped back to his cot, flipped it over hastily and retrieved a few personal items: some rubles for the road, a whetstone for his dagger, a tinderbox, and a belt of five throwing knives, almost everything stolen except the tinderbox, an ironic gift from Akulov. His plan: Escape the town and try to make it to the next town over to buy food and drink for the longer journey.

With a single tear dropping from his face, and as shouts of anger began to bubble up from the growing crowd outside, Eldar approached his father and kissed him on the cheek with a hug, before turning to his ailing mother, kneeling, and doing the same. He stood and drew his dagger, flipping it around in his hand, blade facing backwards. "I love you both," he solemnly said, backing towards the door, bowing, and slowly slinking out and into the world. He crouched low and walked in a deliberate, cautious pace. He had intended to run forwards and scale up to the rooftops, but as he was just close enough to begin running, he noticed a peasant gawking at him with startled yet strangely eager eyes. The peasant began shuddering as his arm came up into the air.

"G-G-GUARDS!" he shrieked, drawing the attention of a few crossbowmen on the ground and on the roofs.

"Der'mo!" Eldar cursed, moving forwards with a shocking burst of speed, climbing up a wooden beam, just as multiple crossbow bolts followed him up, sticking the beam in a vertical column and missing his feet by mere inches. The subsequent chase was a perilous one. As Eldar's feet pounded down on the rooftops, and as he leapt gracefully from building to building, down to the thick pegs that held market stalls up, and back to the buildings, he was being harried by Vakhrushevite "Agiles", who had even more skill than he in climbing things! Hostile Knives flew, bolts were fired.

"Kill that man and damn the consequences!" shouted one Agile in a black, leather, sleek suit of armor.

Another seemed to protest but kept running, "Do not kill him, just injure him and let Nazar himself deal with this troublemaker!"

Upon hearing Vakhrushev's name, Eldar began running even quicker, adrenaline coursing through every vein, every artery of his body as his mind played one message on loop: _"GET THE __**HELL**__ OUTTA HERE."_

Eldar looked ahead and took note of a particularly wide gap between buildings, and a bead of sweat dropped from his forehead. He had to make this jump to escape the Agiles. With an irate roar, Eldar's foot left the edge of the house and he was now careening through the air. Just as it seemed that he had hope, a sharp, burning pain shot straight up Eldar as an Agile's throwing knife struck him hard in the back of the thigh, making Eldar instinctively move a hand to the afflicted area, causing him to begin spinning, losing momentum as he crashed onto the ground below, fracturing his left arm as he vainly tried to cushion the blow. Suddenly, the entire world flashed red as buildings were spaghettified and disintegrated into the now pure white "sky", ending in Eldar's model being ripped to shreds…

**Normandy SR-2, 2185**

Alexander Clarke woke with a start, screaming and holding his left arm, the memory of intense pain still present. It ceased hurting upon touch or pressure, but still "hurt like a b****," as Zaeed would later put it.

"Mr. Clarke, sit still, take a deep breath!" Mordin Solus ordered, running to his side and holding Alexander in his seat.

"What the **hell** was that!? Did I just kill my many-greats grandpa?!" Alexander barked, clutching his arm like a child clutches his/her comfort-object, hissing and cursing. It felt like the bone itself was snapped in half, the marrow felt like quick-corrosive acid.

"No. That happened historically, but you were psychologically unprepared for what just happened, i.e. breaking your arm, taking a knife in the leg, and falling off of a building after barrel-rolling a few times," Miranda Lawson replied with a snicker, instigating a dark glare from Alex. "Alright, we're going to have to replay that…" she tried to add.

"OH NO. I'M NOT DOING THAT AGAIN!"

Miranda blinked before shrugging and pressing some keys on her keyboard. "Fine, then. Take another skip, but this isn't Pandora Radio you know," she quipped.

"Just read over the memories and tell me what happens, and move me to the next memory…"

Miranda nodded slightly and glanced over the Memory-Synopsis…

_"__Eldar Koslov, infamous for his Highway-Robberies and rousing Freedom Speeches in a relatively secluded but detected area in Renaissance Russia, has been betrayed by the people he fought to feed. 'Lord' Nazar Vakhrushev had Lord Vsevolod Akulov poisoned, and pinned the death on Nazar, who had never before taken a human life. He is forced to flee, but is downed by 'Vakhrushevite' Agiles upon attempting to escape the town he lives in. Nazar Vakhrushev himself rides in, accompanied by Guardian-Elites. Eldar is abducted, taken to the Vakhrushev 'Citadel', and spoken to. When Eldar mentions that he has staunch allies who'd hate to hear of his death, Nazar agrees to NOT make Eldar a martyr, sparing his life. Eldar agrees to leave on the condition that he gets to go where __**he**__ wants to go, escorted, anywhere that isn't any place in Russia. They decide on the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople specifically, seeing as it is distant from Northern Russia. His broken arm and wounded thigh are treated and after they heal, he is escorted via carriage to a Port-Town, where he is shipped to Constantinople."_

"Why the Ottoman Empire?" Alexander asked.

Miranda shrugged, "Probably because it was somewhat close to Russia, had good educators, and it was essentially the United North American States before the 13 Original Colonies were even an idea."

Alexander shook his arm once more and leaned back into the Animus 5.7 for further memory-viewing…

**Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, March 1511**

Eldar Koslov's eyes slowly fluttered open and rolled around in his head as he silently inspected his quarters of the ship. A small, dingy room that thankfully just smelled of sea-salt, with a hint of smoke, likely from the terrible-quality candles that were Eldar's only source of light in the middle of the night. There was a desk and a chair for writing at. Eldar was a self-taught reader and writer, but he honestly had nothing on his mind that was worth writing for the duration of the voyage, except for lists of things to do once he reached Constantinople.

_"__Step One: Disembark._

_Step Two: Your Rubles are damn-near worthless here. Pay off the _Russian _captain and go pickpocket some Akçe._

_Step Three: Don't Get Caught._

_Step Four: Just skip to step five._

_Step Five: __**PROFIT**__."_

The young Russian took a few deep breathes, feeling the ship rock back and forth as he motivated himself to get out of "bed", the only other thing in his quarters, a decent cot. He yawned and stretched, rolling out of the elevated cot by accident and landing on his face. "Oooowwwwww…" he moaned, relatively motionless as he awkwardly processed this personal-failure. He picked himself up, checked his nose, and shook off any lingering pain. His arm was feeling much better since his vain escape attempt months earlier, in fact feeling a bit stronger.

"Koslov! You're going to want to see this!" cried a voice from outside his cabin. Eldar eyed his desk, opened a little compartment, and picked up his ornate kindjal dagger. For a brief moment he admired the gilded, patterned handle, and short, curved blade. He wondered why he never sold it when he never truly used it to kill… Eldar slipped the blade into a scabbard, in turn placing the weapon on the inside of his ragged coat to conceal it. He took a few notes and letters, stuffing them into pockets, and walked to the upper decks. What he saw amazed him. He jumped onto the rope-rigging and leaned out as far as he could to admire the view.

From his position, he had a clear view of the beauty of Constantinople. The towering Hagia Sophia was easily spotted, and it's majesty left Eldar's mouth hanging open in awe. On top of that, the trees, birds, the warmth of the sun, even the water was inspiring to him. He would have to write a poem later once he settled in!

Eldar was still hanging to the rigging when the ship pulled into harbor, enticing some silent, embarrassed stares from the natives, a few had never seen a man who was dressed as he was at the time: Dirty, grey rags and a badly tailored, cloth cloak.

Eldar dropped down from the rigging and hit the dock, rolling forwards and standing up, causing the crowd to stagger back in shock. The Captain of the ship descended the "proper" way, down the boarding ramp. In his hands he carried two things. A bag full of Akçe, and a letter from Nazar. He handed both items to Eldar, who proceeded to put them in empty pockets in his cloak.

"General outline: Don't come back to Russia any time soon," the ship-captain said, nodding curtly.

Eldar eyed him suspiciously for a moment before nodding and turning to face the city. He took a deep, nervous breath as he took his first step onto Ottoman soil, enticing a few giggles from a group of Turkish women to his left. He paid them no attention as he marched on.

Suddenly, something caught his attention.

_"Hoşgeldin, kardeşim! (Welcome, brother!) Unless the legend is a lie, you are the man I've longed to meet. Renowned Master and Mentor, Ezio Auditore de la la la!"_ somebody cried.

**_Animus 5.7 Translation System Message: Anomaly detected. Ottoman Turkish language has been auto-learned._**

In the ultraconscious sanctum, Alexander Clarke would have raised an eyebrow. Apparently the Russian who didn't speak a single word of Turkish is going to be able to understand the natives just like that. "GG Cerberus…" he thought.

Eldar turned to watch the two. A young, Turkish man in tan, orange, and blue clothing was speaking to an obvious foreigner in grey robes with a red sash across the waist. The latter seemed rather rich, and being called a "Renowned Master and Mentor" seemed to back this thought up. This "Ezio Auditore de la la la" character was speaking with the charismatic man about a topic that Koslov didn't exactly care for at the moment. He sighed and walked towards them, awkwardly bumping into Ezio on "accident". As he tripped, he swiped Ezio's sack of Akçe from his robes and stuffed them into his own cloak, all in the span of three seconds, and without being noticed initially. Though, Ezio and the Turk definitely saw the bumping part.

"I am **SO** sorry, sir, please forgive me!" Eldar said in Russian, forgetting briefly that he couldn't speak Turkish. To his surprise, the "Ezio" man raised a forgiving hand and spoke back to him… in Russian.

"It is alright, my friend. This is a busy city. Carry on," he said, showing a warm smile.

The Turkish man looked at him strangely, "You speak Italian, Turkish… and gibberish?"

Ezio chuckled. "That was Russian. I picked up some phrases from an Apprentice back in Rome. She was from Russia and would often speak the language in the Tiber Island headquarters," he explained, giving Eldar enough time to start speed-walking away.

The Turk shrugged casually. "So, Mr. de la la la…" he began.

"It is 'Ezio Auditore _da Firenze', _the 'da' means 'of'. Firenze is my birthplace, Florence."

The Turk's lips curled into a smile as he nodded knowingly. "Aaaah, so then I must be 'Yusuf Tazim da Istanbul'!" he announced, raising his arms to gesture towards the whole city.

Ezio bowed a little bit to Yusuf. "A pleasure to meet you, Yusuf Tazim da Istanbul," he replied.

Yusuf gave a toothy grin and shook Ezio's hand. "Right, **_so_**, I wanted to show you around our fair city, seeing as how you are the Mentor, of course, I thought you deserved the warm welcome. How about I take you for some _Baklava_, have a chat, and then head to the Galata?" he suggested.

Ezio raised his hand dismissively again, before he began rummaging through his robes and pouches. "No, no. I'm not saying no to some food, but I will pay," he replied, chuckling with a little frustration in his tone as he struggled to find his damn Akçe pouch! "Where is my money!?"

Yusuf turned his head and did some thinking, before snapping his fingers. It was like a lightbulb flicked on in his head, or, more appropriately, a candle lit up. "That man who bumped into you!"

Ezio shook his head, "_Cazzo!_" he cursed in Italian.

Yusuf smirked and gave a teasing nod. "Oh he's gooood…" he murmured, before taking off in a Sprint to go find Eldar, with Ezio following suit. "Stay close behind if you value your sense of direction! _Konstantiniyye_ is much larger when you don't know what district you're in!"

Eldar was casually walking along in the streets of "Konstantiniyye", pickpocketing a vast multitude of civilians to add to his survival funds. Not speaking Turkish meant that this was going to be a nightmare. Eventually, Eldar grew more and more nervous, inexplicably feeling as though death awaited him. He looked over his right shoulder, and his fears were confirmed as he spotted Ezio Auditore walking through the crowd, eyes fixed on him! What terrified Eldar even more, was that Ezio seemed to smirk before passing by somebody in the crowd, and _disappeared_. At that, Eldar broke into a run, pushing through the crowd and looking for a place to hide. He settled with a bench hidden in the shade, two other citizens in similar clothing sat, and Eldar joined them. For a minute, he though he was safe, sighing in relief.

Then slowly, ostensibly out of nowhere, Yusuf lowered himself down from the ledge overhead. He was completely upside down, posed in a similar fashion to Spider-Man in that upside-down-kiss scene, smiling like a total goofball at Eldar, who was unaware of his presence.

"Who are we hiding from?" he asked Eldar, innocence in his tone. Eldar launched upwards, twisting in Yusuf's direction with an absolutely bewildered expression that Alexander Clarke would later liken to PewDiePie, much to the delight of Joker. No questions asked, Eldar sprinted off, screaming. Yusuf, still upside down, shrugged nonchalantly. "Must be pretty scary," he muttered, before raising himself back up to the ledge and righting himself, dropping to the dusty ground below.

Eldar continued his efforts to escape his pursuers, turning corners only to find Ezio standing dead in the middle of the alleys, no matter where he went. After what felt like hours, though in reality, was only a few minutes, Eldar searched around frantically, and seeing nobody, leapt straight into a wagon filled with hay.

After another minute passed, Eldar stopped breathing so heavily. Just as he was confident he had escaped, he heard a slightly muffled voice adjacent to him, in the same wagon. "I like hay-wagons too. Very soft places to hide!" Yusuf snickered.

"OH WHAT THE HELL!?" Eldar shrieked, bursting out of the wagon, causing the straw to explode in all directions, much to the shock and awe of the civilians.

As the Russian thief ran, Yusuf began hooting with laughter, beginning the chase once more. The routine started up again, with Eldar dashing through the streets and alleys, only stopping and moving the opposite way whenever Ezio made a surprise appearance. At last, Eldar got his head together and used his freerunning skill to scale a building. As he completed the climb, he rolled forwards and jumped, launching himself into a rooftop garden, complete with drapes to conceal the otherwise open sides.

Little did he know, Yusuf thought ahead once again and lowered himself down in the same fashion as with the bench, only this time looked straight down (up?) at Eldar. "They'll never find us here!" he exclaimed. Eldar slowly lifted his head up, staring directly into Yusuf's now narrowed eyes. With a huff, Yusuf lifted a hand and slowly started counting down from three with his fingers, mouthing out the syllables.

"Three… two… one…"

Eldar let loose another scream, "HOW!?"

"I have no idea!" Yusuf laughed as Koslov somersaulted out of the rooftop garden and off of the rooftop. The Turkish Assassin let out a hearty sigh. "I just wanted the Mentor's Akçe back. How does some _Baklava_ sound?!" he called out.

Eldar didn't hear him. He kept running to get as far away from the teleporting man as he could. Although, Yusuf wasn't exactly a problem anymore, and neither was Ezio. Eldar found himself slamming _right into_ a tall man in full-body armor. Both were knocked over, but the armored man was far more furious. His "friends", wearing the same armor, drew their weapons and pointed them in Eldar's direction.

"You watch where you're going, street-rat!" one of them taunted. "You didn't dare do that on purpose, eh? Not to a Byzantine?" he added, poking the air with his mace.

Eldar shook his head and stood up, dusting himself off, and he offered a hand to the Byzantine he knocked over. "My apologies, sir!" he exclaimed.

When the man was on his feet, all eyes were on his Akçe coin-purse. "For a man dressed as you are… you seem to be carrying an awful-lot of Akçe…" that same obnoxious "guard" with the mace said, poking Eldar's hip lightly with the top of the mace. Eldar's eyes widened. BUSTED.

"Ha! I can see it in your eyes! We've got ourselves a thief!" another guard proclaimed. Eldar panicked and drew his dagger on the guards, readying it in preparation for an attack. "Oh-ho-ho… this should be good…"

A familiar, grey-robed figure emerged from the curious crowd that had gathered. With a flick of his wrist, a long, slender blade emerged from his leather wrist-bracer, which Ezio Auditore proceeded to ram into the Byzantine's spinal column, killing him instantly. It was a stylish, high-profile kill that alerted the now dead man's allies, and terrified the crowd, which made haste to evacuate the general area. "ASSASSIN!" the Byzantines cried in unison as Yusuf fell from the sky (really just from a rooftop), driving _two_ of those wicked blades into the backs of the guards' heads, knocking them down and pinning them to the dirty ground, dead. The last guard standing, the one with the mace, dropped his weapon and ran, panicking. Eldar rolled his eyes and, just as Ezio and Yusuf were about to gank that guard, threw his dagger, sending it tumbling through the air and right into the guard's neck. Another mercifully instant kill.

With that, Ezio and Yusuf sheathed their weapons and nodded approvingly at the young Russian. "Quite the throw. That was impressive!" Yusuf commented. Eldar merely stared at the body of the dead Byzantine, staring. (Tautology was intentional)

"I… I missed," he murmured. Ezio gave a curious glance at the dead man and returning his attention to Eldar, clearly confused.

"You hit him in the neck with a small dagger. That was a good throw," the Italian Mentor reiterated for Yusuf.

"N-no, I've… I've never taken a human life for as long as I lived… I wanted to incapacitate him, not… kill him…" Eldar clarified, stuttering in fear.

Yusuf frowned sadly and approached the dead Byzantine with the dagger in his neck. He knelt down, retrieved the bejeweled, gilded dagger, and placed it on the ground by his foot. He folded the Byzantine's arms over his chest, closed his still open eyes, and bowed his head in respect. "If it makes you feel better, we regret taking lives, but are reinforced by the necessity of doing so to attain our goals," Yusuf said to Eldar, though he was still watching the corpse.

Koslov gave a stressed sigh and shook his head. "I hated to do that, and I didn't mean to kill him," he responded, to which Ezio held out his hand.

"I am Ezio Auditore da Firenze. This is Yusuf Tazim. We both are awed by your ability and adaptivity. Though, sorry for giving you a scare. You **did** take my Akçe."

"What? OH! This? My apologies, sir, please, take it back, I don't want any trouble from a fighter of your caliber!" said Eldar, who took his coin purse and sat it in Ezio's hand, oblivious to Ezio's desire to simply shake his hand.

The Assassin simply stared down at the bag of Akçe for a brief moment before shrugging, and placing it in his robes with a warm laugh. "I wanted to shake your hand, show you that I meant you no harm, but thanks for my money back," he said finally.

Yusuf stood and returned to the others. "He's right, we are impressed by your stealth and agility. Also, you pick the greatest hiding places," he said to Eldar, who just recently got himself together from the chase. Eldar looked at Yusuf, wide-eyed for a moment, as he understood everything that was said, but he processed it as Russian.

"You speak Russian, Yusuf?" Eldar replied, before covering his mouth when Turkish came out. Yusuf and Ezio exchanged confused looks for a second.

"No, not a word of this 'Rushen', and I thought you didn't speak any Turkish?"

"Then what just happened?" Ezio inquired. The irises of his eyes flashed a golden color as he inspected Eldar. "Tell me, _signore_, have you ever had moments in which everything sort of goes black? Do you see people outlined in different colors, or just know where people are, or are going to be?"

Eldar's eyes flashed the same golden color, just briefly, before reverting back to normal coloration. Ezio smirked and patted Eldar's shoulder. "I'll tell you about it later, but I think you may have a greater sense than even I, if you picked up a language such as Turkish in minutes."

Eldar held his head as it began to hurt. "Y-yeah… so, what now?"

Yusuf laughed aloud and clapped his hands a single time. "Time for some _Baklava_, on the Mentor!" he shouted.

Eldar stared at Ezio as the latter smiled back at him. "Indeed, I could use something sweet to eat, and I've yet to try this _Baklava_ for myself, but I've heard stories of it back in _Italia_…" he said as the three began to walk off.

Alexander Clarke, observed the world flash red a few times before it calmed down. However, a minute later it fell apart, bursting into fragments of binary code as Ezio, Yusuf, and Eldar were torn apart, leaving only his true self, as Alexander Clarke, standing in the pure whiteness of the Memory Corridor.

**ANIMUS 2.0 BLACK ROOM, Earth, 2012**

A young man in a black hoodie and blue jeans was forcibly tossed out of a huge gate made of black stone, and onto the synthetic, earthy ground. A little island surrounded by water and covered in monoliths and floating platforms.

"Agh! What the hell was that?!" he asked nobody in particular. Out of nowhere, data fragments floating in the air suddenly came together and formed the figure of another human in a brownish, olive green coat, blue undershirt, and dark, almost black jeans. He had blonde, short-cut hair as opposed to the hoodied man's crew-cut.

"Ah, what, the random desynchronization when that random guy showed up? Well I can tell you firsthand that this sort of thing happens sometimes," the blonde said to the hoodied one. "Yeah, Desmond, what I can tell you is that he probably had something to do with the memory. One of three things happened. A glitch made a civilian run into him out of the blue, he's a significant figure that Ezio later forgot, and you're just trying to pick into the memory, or he was originally cut from the memory sequence to facilitate and simplify your experience because he wasn't crucial to your goal."

This "Desmond" looked up at the data-man. "That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, because I played this memory twice, now, and he didn't appear the first time!" he retorted, sitting up and crossing his legs.

"Of course it does! The Animus is a Machine. It filters out events and people that weren't crucial to the success of Ezio's mission. That's why when you relived his memories from Rome, all the recruits he invited had randomly generated names. This 'Eldar' character's likely just some Random."

"Like hell, Eldar had Eagle Vision, and picked up a language just by hearing it!" Desmond said, defensively.

The blonde, Subject 16 aka Clay Kaczmarek, pondered this briefly. "Perhaps there are things about the Animus that not even I have access to… and I became part of it…"

**Normandy SR2, 2185**

"Astounding experience. Eldar possessed great ability to have learned an entire language within the first day of hearing it spoken!" Mordin Solus exclaimed, reviewing the test data from the day's Memory Sequence.

"That… was the single most unusual thing I've ever seen, and I'm pulling records from Abstergo, and nothing documented this sort of issue!" Miranda replied, clearly flustered as she flipped through datapad after datapad.

Alexander Clarke had slowly regained consciousness as the two excitedly discussed the anomaly. He opened his mouth to speak… _"You got any ideas as to what that desynchronization flashing was? Or perhaps why I didn't actually desynchronize when it happened?"_ he said in Turkish. Aw Hell…

Miranda dropped the last datapad in shock and stared at the Assassin, bug-eyed. "Alex, Bleeding Effect already!?"

Alex cleared his throat and spoke English the next time around. "Sorry, that was actually pretty amazing, however. I asked what happened with the desynchronization flashing," he repeated.

Miranda walked to her computer and reviewed the footage taken directly from Eldar's viewpoint. She noticed the red flashing in the sky that repeated five times before calming for a minute, then the memory ended. "That's odd. But, hey, look at this. Ezio's bugging out!" she said, gesturing for Mordin and Alexander to come over and see. Sure enough, Ezio was beginning to fracture into bits of data, strips of aesthetic data shifting to the left and right, making Ezio look like a blotch of static, the exact moment before the Scene collapsed.

"At this time, Desmond Miles was in the Animus' Black Room, knocked into Comatose… he was literally _in_ the Animus 2.0 when this happened… you think…?" Miranda explained.

"No. Impossible. Time Travel only possible by traveling faster than light without use of Element Zero!" Mordin stoicly stated.

"You think Desmond broke a code? Like, Eldar was written out of the Genetic Memory files for Ezio Auditore, but something caused the Black Room to recover them? And in correlation to what Mordin said… you think that we caused some Time Dilation and that Desmond is hooked up to the Animus CLOUD System? We could have time traveled his consciousness?" Alexander noted, lifting an eyebrow.

Miranda's eyes darted about the room as she processed this idea. "Perhaps you're right… When he was killed by the Eye, in the Precursor Sanctum, Abstergo took him and hooked him up to The Animus 'Cloud' software, and he was already on a 'Cloud' of sorts when he was in comatose, reliving Ezio's Pilgramage memories… Perhaps we hit that lingering signal out here in space and broke the wipe-code by reflecting our session back to Desmond at FTL speeds?"

"Psuedoscience…" Mordin groaned, waving a dismissive hand, "will work with it, until better solution is discovered."

Alexander replayed the glitched scene again, studying it intensely.

Things just got a whole lot more intriguing…

* * *

**A/N: Yeah... I know, I'm totally screwing AC lore with a railroad spike, with that ending. It just... went that way, and I simply kept writing it out. I liked it, but the explanation for the anomaly is waaayy too #TryHard.**

**So basically, what happened here was that Alexander's Session FTL'ed back to Desmond, with a LOT of Time Dilation, and the session using Eldar erased a code containing a memory-wipe on Ezio's Memory Sequences regarding everything Eldar. The reason for this was because of Eldar's potential with Eagle Sense and his future contact with Pieces of Eden. As a backup-plan in case everything went to hell in a handbag, everything concerning Eldar was erased, rewritten, and Eldar himself was passed off as a Randomly Generated assassin recruit. This was to prevent Abstergo from disposing of Desmond once they tripped upon Eldar's service record, and chasing after somebody else, who was merely 12 years old at the time, but will serve a VERY important role in the distant future of this story!**

**Sorry for the epic fail (xD), I'm not a scientist. I dunknowhowdesethinzwurk.**


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